If the body had its own seasons, movement would be like summer, right? Open, warm, fluid.

And resting would be winter. Dormant, nurturing, compost time.

As we drop into the heart of winter—especially this winter—we’re given a beautiful chance to regain, if not entirely recalibrate, strength for movement to come. And it’s even more than that, no?

Many of us overtrain, overwork, overeat, overstimulate ourselves into exhaustion. I put myself squarely in the middle of that camp. And being exhausted can be fine, for a time. What’s not fine is being stuck in exhaustion.

The remedy is rest.

Rest in your bones while you stand.

Rest in your heart while it pumps fresh blood to your limbs during movement.

Rest in your guts when you’re tired of thinking.

Rest your head on someone else when you’re tired of feeling.

Set aside the role of what you usually do, and rest in just being instead.

Be gentle with your sweet self.

Rest.

(p.s. A great indicator of a place that’s in most need of rest in your life can be answered by asking the question: “what do I always do?” From there, investigate what it might be like to set aside your usual routine, for even a moment. It’ll be there to come back to if you want it, of course.)